Four Awesome Performances the Emmy Nominations Overlooked
With Colin Jost and Michael Che hosting the Emmy’s this year, I’m sure I’ll watch. I’d be surprised if anything terribly surprising happened. Donald Glover’s Atlanta will clean up, as will The Handmaid’s Tale and Game of Thrones. I suppose we will continue to pretend that Westworld is a smart show with great acting, rather than great actors on a show that is somehow both preposterously silly and exceedingly ponderous (seriously, this show acts like it’s asking deep, serious questions, but the only question it’s really asking is “Guess who else is a robot??”). There were at least four performances I was hoping to see nominated, though, and I’m a little bummed they got overlooked. Here are four of the great performances this year that the Emmy’s overlooked.
Hey, she stole your Emmy! I would stab her too.
Jodie Comer on Killing Eve
Are you KIDDING me with this? I’d get her being overlooked if nobody from the show was nominated, but if you nominate Sandra Oh from Killing Eve you GOTTA nominate Jodie Comer. That’s like nominating Jodie Foster from Silence of the Lambs but not Anthony Hopkins. Don’t get me wrong, Sandra Oh is great on the show and I’m thrilled she’s nominated, but the assassin she is chasing is the heart of the show. The show only works if you believe Jodie Comer is a ruthless killer, and Jodie Comer does that well. She’s seductive and playful and very believable as she kills her way through these episodes. She is perfect as a killer sociopath and her scenes with Sandra Oh and her handler (played by Kim Bodnia, who also deserved a nomination, as did Fiona Shaw for her mysteriously corrupt senior agent) are electric. Jodie Comer is great; she’s the creepiest presence on TV since Hannibal’s Mads Mikkelsen, even with a much smaller body count.
Next year, my friend! You deserve it for the antennae alone!
Peter Serafinowicz on The Tick
Peter Serafinowicz is one of my favorite actors. I love him as surprisingly-resilient Sith, an evil terrorist, as a romantic rival, as an creepy zombie, and as a hapless scientist. Still, I was a little nervous when he was cast as The Tick on Amazon’s live-action take on the my favorite post-modern superhero. I shouldn’t have been; he’s awesome. He captures The Tick’s endless joviality and unmatched physicality perfectly. His bravado (and occasional existential angst) make all twelve episodes of the Netflix series great fun. This year, Amazon’s other great comedy – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – seems to be getting all the attention, and it certainly deserved a lot of nominations. But not giving Serafinowicz a nomination for either Leading Actor or Supporting Actor is a crime no superhero could ignore.
Is it just me, or does she look exactly like what your Commander Shepherd looks like too?
Molly Parker on Lost in Space
Lost in Space had a lot going for it. The effects were great, the stories were good, and the characters were mostly a lot of fun. I love Parker Posey, but her Smith became less interesting as the planet itself became more and more threatening. The kids here are pretty fun and Toby Stephens makes a great tough-guy dad, but the one character who really ties the show together it’s Molly Parker’s Maureen Robinson. She brings real gravity to the scenes with her family, and whether she’s fretting over her kids or getting romantic with her husband or matching wits with Posey’s Dr. Smith, she’s the one character on the show I’m always excited to see. Heck, I’d say she’s every bit as good here as she was in Deadwood, and she didn’t have these special effects to compete with on Deadwood.
NO NOMINATIONS? We had a bunch of talented British actors, a huge monstrous bear, and quite a bit of cannibalism. You didnt see any of that on “This is Us.”
Everybody on The Terror
Did you watch The Terror? The show is based on a novel but it feels more like a graphic novel. Two ships trying to map the Northwest Passage wind up trapped in the ice and hunted by a monstrous polar bear. The cast is great. Jared Harris (still my favorite Moriarty) and Ciaran Hinds play the two ship captains of the doomed expedition. Tobias Menzies, who is always great in everything, is great here as a supporting commander (who probably deserved a better assignment). Adam Nagaitis is pretty great as the evil insurrectionist in the crew. The show’s got great acting, creepy horror, and – yeah – ultimately some pretty gross cannibalism. Anyway, if you haven’t seen the show, go binge it now. It’s easily one of the best series I’ve seen this year, and everybody on the show is great (even the bear).
